Tag Archives: young people write

If I were a Boy by Dwana Anderson, Sea View Farm Primary, Grade 5, 10 years:
“If I were a boy I would dance all day.
If I were a boy I would say ‘Ok!’
If I were a boy I’d play the things boys play;
If I were a boy I would jump and say, ‘Hooray!’
But since I am a girl I can only say:
‘I wish I were a boy,’ for there’s no way;
For now, I can only dream all day
About: ‘If I were a boy,’ but I’m ok.”

The poem above, one of the last I read in Write off the Bat: Antiguan Students Write, a pamphlet-sized production from the 2007/8 National Reading Festival, a publication of the Ministry of Education and the Education Broadcasting Unit, which I only recently discovered, got me thinking about what young people – boys and girls – think about themselves in relation to the other (before hormones and puberty and all that) just as people existing in the world. Does the “but I’m ok” at the end strike a wistful tone? Do girls feel a sense of restriction born of nothing more than their gender, while boys seem (to them)…freer. To just be. Do we still exist in that norm? Just thinking out loud…especially as I consider activities to engage young writers and explore how they see their world while unlocking their imagination at my upcoming children’s workshop (‘listen out’ for more on that or if you have a young person you’d like to register email me at jhohadli at gmail dot com).

Random thoughts.

And an excuse to share two videos I like on this subject – the Ciara one is my favourite:

To see the winners through the years, you can click on the individual year in the drop down menu on the main page, and, of course, you can also use our search feature. But I thought it might be convenient (and appropriate) to have an easy and convenient listing of all the winners from a single space in the section on Antigua and Barbuda Writings as well. So, here goes.

Art from the 2011 Challenge in which the writers had to write children’s stories and the artists had to create illustrations for the top stories. This is one of two by that year’s adult art winner Hudle Jennings, an illustration for the story Sands and Butterflies.

The challenge in 2013 was to create anansi characters – it was in fact an audition for a possible assignment for a forthcoming book. Garvin Benjamin had the top art entries. This is his version of Ms. Anansi.